So right before my 4th of July Party, Lauren texted me and asked me what I was doing the day after the party. I had initially planned to go with Bridget to Splash Island in Plainfield, but Lauren then told me about Freedom Springs in Greenwood. She said it was supposed to be built to compete with Splash Island. Naturally, I was immediately intrigued and decided to check it out. Bridget got sick at the last minute, so Lauren was thoughtful enough to invite Nathan to come with us, and I’m glad she did. We got there at 1:10 and paid $10 to get in, which wasn’t bad. There was also an option to get a 10-time pass for $50, but I didn’t know how often we’d use it, so I didn’t get it. Freedom Springs seemed a little smaller than Splash Island in terms of square footage, but it had most of the same features: three water slides, a lazy river, a rope climbing area, and an olympic-size pool. One of the slides even required tubes to go down, and you could go down in single or double tubes. It did bother me that I wasn’t allowed to wear my goggles on the water slides, though; Splash Island doesn’t mind if I do that. Also, the slides at Freedom Springs are bigger, longer, and faster than the ones at Splash Island are. For most people, that’s a plus, but it’s a bit too big, long, and fast for me, so I prefer the slides at Splash Island.

That said, I liked the lazy river a lot better at Freedom Springs. It had a more even current and a better layout. The pool was about the same at both places; still, I was impressed by the decent size. And I like how you can see everything about the place, as well as the surrounding area, from the top of the slides. The staff was very helpful, polite, and attentive, even though we didn’t require much help from them. The bathrooms were also clean and well maintained, and the whole place is a giant rectangle, so it’s easy to navigate. We did the slides a lot. I first tried the tube slide with Lauren. She liked to go in the back because it was faster there; I liked to go in the front because it was slower there. The inside of the slide was oddly heated. We flipped over as we headed out and water was lodged deep in my ear. It took me a while to get it out! We took turns on the slides for a while, trying both the body slides and the tube slides. The body slides came in red and blue. Red was covered and went faster, while blue was open to the sunlight and went a little slower. I preferred blue. Nathan and I headed to the lazy river. When we saw Lauren was still on the slides, which she openly admits are her favorite feature of Freedom Springs, Nathan quickly got out of the lazy river and went up the slide. I joined him. Lauren and I did one last joint ride on the tube slide and then I did one last run on the blue body slide before Freedom Springs closed at 6:00. We got changed and left around 6:05. Overall, I really enjoyed Freedom Springs. It was a nice place and I’d go back there again.